I think the general concept of Marksmanship is fine, but a few key tweaks would take it from good to great for sure.

1. Petless would be wonderful. As it is, there is zero interaction with your pet already (though the same can be said for Survival) unless you take Lynx Rush, which is 1 button every 90 seconds.

2. I whole-heartedly agree with the need to make Careful Aim a cooldown rather than percent-based. Hell, as far as I'm concerned, fuck Rapid Fire and make it a cooldown that does what Careful Aim does. Rapid Fire can go straight to the toilet.

3. Steady Focus is tedious and just flat-out irrational. You can run around while casting "Steady" Shot, which makes it not very steady at all. Doing that twice in a row somehow means you shoot faster for 20 seconds? Stupid from both a gameplay and logic standpoint. I'd rather have Steady Shot be renamed to something more logical and have it give us a 10-second buff that actually matters, that way we aren't forced to shoot two in a row (which can be a pain in the ass with Thrill of the Hunt procs - hello capped Focus).

4. I kind of miss some of the creativity that they took away from Chimera Shot. It used to be able to disarm, drain mana, etc based on what sting you had up. We don't have to re-introduce all of those stings, but it would be cool to get some of the neat utility options back into it. Right now it's, wait for it... An instant shot that hits really hard! Meh, boring...

I think the general concept of Marksmanship is fine, but a few key tweaks would take it from good to great for sure.

1. Petless would be wonderful. As it is, there is zero interaction with your pet already (though the same can be said for Survival) unless you take Lynx Rush, which is 1 button every 90 seconds.

2. I whole-heartedly agree with the need to make Careful Aim a cooldown rather than percent-based. Hell, as far as I'm concerned, fuck Rapid Fire and make it a cooldown that does what Careful Aim does. Rapid Fire can go straight to the toilet.

3. Steady Focus is tedious and just flat-out irrational. You can run around while casting "Steady" Shot, which makes it not very steady at all. Doing that twice in a row somehow means you shoot faster for 20 seconds? Stupid from both a gameplay and logic standpoint. I'd rather have Steady Shot be renamed to something more logical and have it give us a 10-second buff that actually matters, that way we aren't forced to shoot two in a row (which can be a pain in the ass with Thrill of the Hunt procs - hello capped Focus).

4. I kind of miss some of the creativity that they took away from Chimera Shot. It used to be able to disarm, drain mana, etc based on what sting you had up. We don't have to re-introduce all of those stings, but it would be cool to get some of the neat utility options back into it. Right now it's, wait for it... An instant shot that hits really hard! Meh, boring...

I just had another idea... Swap Chimera shot to Survival, split the damage into three instant bursts of separate schools of damage (nature, fire, frost), Give BM a physical Bleed version of Explosive Shot, call it Exsanguinating Shot, change Serpent Sting to a Bleed effect for both BM and MM, change BM Mastery to increase pet damage against bleeding targets by the current amount, plus 50%(of the base amount) for each bleed you have applied. Then, MM is free for a full redesign.

I hold out hope that perhaps one day it will be the petless spec. Wishful thinking but it would be a huge change for the class.

not to be a 'this' moron, but yes, this.. so hard.

I would resub instantly if they simply made either of these (or both!) an option..

1, dual weapons. pistols or xbows. It might be work yes, but think of it the same way the shadowbolt glyph splits it into 3 'bolts', same thing, only 2.
2, petless MM 'ranger' spec. no pets, hell, i'd stand to lose traps too if the rght changes are made.. bm pets, mm petless, surv trap/poison focussed.

EDIT: as some others have said, I used to enjoy the utility of Chim shot.

Some fun, interesting ideas here. Ive been thinking, ever since seeing warlock Sacrifice when MoP hit, that MM is also a prime candidate for a petless spec. Would give players who want that 'ranger' feel an option, and spice up a spec that got pretty bland with the way the talent change went down. Maybe something like...

Alone In The Wild: The hunter takes on the aspects of her current pet, dismissing the pet and granting new abilities based on the family of the pet. In addition, increases all damage by X. Chimaera Shot gains an additional effect based on the specialization of the pet dismissed (Fer/Ten/Cun). 5minute cooldown. Lasts until canceled and prohibits the calling of pets when on cooldown.

Something along these lines would give you a viable petless option without Blizzard committing entirely to a petless spec. You also dont lose the buffs and abilities granted by the pet, and would bring back the utility and three-headedness of Chimaera. Could just have button that gives the hunter one of the dismissed pets abilities (web, roar, shell shield?) similar to warlock's Control Pet button that changes depending on the pet. Would Roar of Sacrifice and Master's Call just being casted by the hunter directly be too much?

I have no idea what 3 different things Chimaera could do, depending on Ferocity, Cunning or Tenacity, but its a thought. It also doesnt allow you to switch it on the fly, as you could with the Chimaera that was based on the current sting on the target, but its something. And since pets can be made any specialization, you could choose the pet ability you want to have and the ability you want your Chimaera to have independently of each other.

I only have a little hunter alt so I may be way off base but just throwing it out there!

They need to rework the whole class honestly. If the next xpac has a petless archer class, im dropping hunter like a bad habit.

Edit: I would LOVE to see BM made into a melee spec like Rexxar/Generic Beatsmaster from WC3, i would seriously consider going BM if i could dolphin kick someone and have the animation actual throw a dolphin at them.

Making a spec work without a pet is a viable way of redesigning or refitting it.

Petless would be awful - what are you bringing to the group? Your Trueshot Aura? BM can bring Battle Rez and Lust/Hero, Surv can bring any other passive buff needed, MM brings... nothing. And if it simmed as the top spec, those that want to use pets are going to have to gimp themselves, which is lousy. Who even pays attention to pets anyway? The last thing I'm thinking about in a boss fight is "Gee, wonder how my pet's doing!" Growl is off and there's no random trash around to be pulled, I'm not even going to bother with it.